Garmin - Forerunner 310XT

That's what I do and works fine, the screen is a little small on my Forerunner 310XT. But I bought it used years ago for 100$ and got the little handlebar mount thing.

I've had lots of Garmin computers and lots of Garmin watches. The two aren't really compatible. First started out with a Forerunner 310XT many moons ago that I strapped to my bars. Lasted about a week before I got an Edge 200 and I've had a seperate running watch and bike computer since. You really don't want to be looking at your wrist all the time when you are cycling and as I've gotten older and need reading glasses a watch on the bars isn't suitable for me anyway. Also there's a lot more real estate on my Edge 1050 compared to my Fenix 8 so lots more data to be seen and I can see different pages of data with a swipe of my finger as well as a navigation screen. I've also got a Varia radar that makes an audible beep on the computer and gives a graphics indicator of approaching vehicles.

I've never had much issue with battery life on my Garmins - currently a Fenix 6, a couple of Vivoactives before that, and even a 310xt _way_ back. But I also wear my Garmin against my skin, so it tends to get covered with base layers while I'm actually skiing. I just roll back my sleeve if I need to interact with it.

The other thing that is noteworthy for me about Garmin is that I find the customer service incredible. If there is any issue with your watch/power meter, etc, support is great. Once you get through the "reset the device" nonsense, if it still doesn't solve the problem, they just send you a new refurb. Even if it's out of warranty. I had the FR 205 brick on a wrist. The sealing on that was shit and sweat seeped into the watch. Boom, new replacement. 310XT, the plastic on the buttons would wear through and water leaked in when swimming. Yep, new repalcement. Heck, I had a pair of Vector pedals go bad and not only did they send me new ones, they sent me the Vector 2s. They have my lifetime loyalty and goodwill for that, across 20+ device purchases for myself and my family.

eheh I agree with you. If I was looking for "just" a sport watch it would be easier. I started with a FR310XT, then a FR920XT, a Fenix 3. All watches that could do everything I needed and more - for trail running, triathlon, etc. But now I'm looking for a replacement for my Vivoactive 4, something I'd wear everyday and also use while training. I like to play music while running without having the phone, I want to use it in the pool. The VA4 never did a 15h+ trail race, not even capable of openwater recording (I would simply tie it to my swim buoy). So, I get what you're saying. With that in mind, what I'm looking for now is a watch I can wear casually, fits while wearing a shirt (the Fenix 3 HR is huuuuge), but that I could also use for "casual" activities. Swimming in the pool seems simple enough, but I was thrown out by the lack of control with the AW in the pool: with any other watch I press a button to start an interval, press it again to stop it, and repeat for a new interval, and I can see metrics (time, distance) during each interval for just that interval. I was surprised to read the AW seems to not do that.

With gps actively going(most battery intense thing you can do), a forerunner with MIP will last you like 3 to 5 days straight. OLED probably a solid 2 to 3 days straight. If you just want to wear it when not using it for activities, you get like 2 weeks before charges.

I use a Garmin Forerunner watch, and it displays heart rate while tracking activity. The reading is pretty visible to me even with slightly foggy goggles but ymmv. They have a lot of models with this capability, so maybe you can find one with a bigger screen. The default heart rate screen also has a colored Zone indicator, if that's easier to see & you're not looking for exact numbers https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=kbOXNev7NS4DQcc3IjAV49

I use Garmin forerunner watch, sync Strava with Garmin Connect and sync Komoot with Strava. It works like a charm.

I have a Garmin Edge bike computer and chest based heart rate because I like to see my speed on the handlebars rather than having to look at my watch. It also navigates for me on more adventurous rides and race courses I'm unfamiliar with. For local social rides I just track on my Garmin Forerunner watch.

A Garmin head unit. You could buy used to reduce the cost. I do ride wearing my forerunner watch, however it is purely for heartrate (linkeded to display on headunit) In reality you could buy the headunit and an inexpensive chest heartrate monitor such as magene. I do however like that my watch provides lots of other daily data such as resting heartrate, steps and so forth. There is benefit to headunit + basic level sports watch.